English

"The Head" by Mediapro Studio with HBO Asia and Hulu Japan is currently shooting

Tomohisa Yamashita in "The Head"

Jonathan Spink, CEO HBO Asia

06-09-2019

The Mediapro Studio, HBO Asia and Hulu Japan confirmed the shooting in Spain of the first series by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, "The Head".

The series directed by Jorge Dorado, it will be a survival thriller is set in one of the remotest places on the planet, Antarctica. The shooting is taking place in the Canary Islands and Iceland.

The Pastor brothers and Jorge Dorado have worked with Ran Tellem (Homeland), Head of International Content Development of The Mediapro Studio, in the creation of this thriller.

The project, one of The Mediapro Studio’s major investments, took its first steps in 2017 at the prestigious International Series Mania Forum, held in Paris. The Head was presented at a pitching session and aroused great interest among representatives from the media and entertainment sector.

According to Javier Méndez, Chief Content Officer of The Mediapro Studio, 'The Head is an example of the direction we’re headed in, with ambitious and complex international projects based on great stories. The Head is a major step in the studio's strategy to guarantee that the best stories reach our clients around the world; to do so, we have excellent partner like Hulu Japan'.

Laura Fernández Espeso, Corporate Director and Co-Head of TV of The Mediapro Studio, commented: “The Head is the fruit of many months’s labor to meet deadlines when demand for content is huge. Having talent like Jorge Dorado and Àlex and David Pastor working from the beginning to build and shape this project, altogether with a great international cast and a prominent partner such as Hulu Japan, gives an idea of the magnitude of the project. It is a privilege for The Mediapro Studio to bring this amazing series to the audiovisual market".

The plot of The Head, with dialogues in English and Danish, is set in the Polaris VI international base, in Antarctica. A small group of scientists from several countries will be in charge of the base during the long polar nights. But in the middle of winter, the base stops communicating with the outside world.

'After a process lasting two and half years, we at The Mediapro Studio are proud to bring this unique story to the screen”, explained Tellem. 'The Head is about good and evil. Our story begins when a group of people find themselves completely disconnected from the world, in the frozen darkness of the South Pole winter. For the unknown killer among them, this is the perfect setting. For everybody else, telling good from evil just might be the thing that saves your life'.

He adds, 'The moment Hulu Japan joined us, we felt it is more than just a regular collaboration. The opportunity to include a Japanese character in this international thriller was a challenge we embraced from the first moment. Having Tomohisa as part of our cast is a great addition to The Head. Together with his acting abilities and charm, he brings a fresh approach, a new world rarely seen on European shows. We feel it will be a great impact for both the Japanese viewers of the series, as it will be to audiences in Europe and other regions of the world. We are excited and eager to meet Tomo on the set and get busy. We are also delighted that HBO Asia has come on board, so The Head will get a wider distribution across Asia.”

'Following the success of Miss Sherlock, the first HBO Asia Original co-production with Hulu Japan, we look forward to bringing yet another production in collaboration with Hulu Japan,” said Jonathan Spink, CEO, HBO Asia. 'We look forward to adding the survival thriller, The Head, to our slate of HBO Asia Originals and bringing it to audiences across Asia when it premieres'.

'In The Head, I made some contribution to the development, which is quite unusual', director Jorge Dorado explains, 'because directors normally join in at a much later stage. And this is very interesting, because this way, the story in a way becomes yours too'. The director also emphasizes the work of The Mediapro Studio: 'At the moment, no one else in Spain is doing projects of this magnitude and with such international ambition'.